Products tied to KOSPI 200, Nikkei 225 and S&P 500 indexes

Stock-linked ELS also included in expanded lineup

Corporate accounts now eligible alongside individual customers

An exterior view of the Meritz Securities headquarters building. [Meritz Securities]
An exterior view of the Meritz Securities headquarters building. [Meritz Securities]

Meritz Securities announced Thursday it will launch 14 equity-linked securities (ELS) products exclusively through its mobile trading system (MTS).

The standout product among them is the Meritz Super ELS No. 700, a financial instrument that pays up to 11.61 percent annually when conditions are met. The product uses global indexes — the KOSPI 200, Nikkei 225 and S&P 500 — as its underlying assets.

Investors receive an early redemption opportunity every four months after purchase, and the product carries a three-year maturity.

Even if early redemption is not triggered, investors can receive three years of accumulated interest plus their principal at maturity, provided the closing prices of all underlying assets on the maturity evaluation date remain at or above the maturity barrier, or none of the underlying assets has ever fallen below the 35 percent knock-in barrier during the investment period.

However, if the closing price of any underlying asset falls below the maturity redemption barrier on the maturity evaluation date and at least one underlying asset has breached the knock-in barrier at any point during the investment period, investors may suffer a loss of principal — up to and including a total loss.

Meritz Securities also released six stock-linked ELS products and seven index-linked ELS products alongside the flagship offering. The lineup includes monthly income-type products that pay a fixed return each month and lizard-type products that offer additional early redemption opportunities.

Online ELS subscriptions had previously been limited to individual customers, but starting with this round the company has expanded eligibility to corporate accounts in response to customer demand.

The minimum investment for all 14 ELS products is 100,000 won ($76), and the subscription deadline is noon on Nov. 6.

Meritz Securities also launched promissory note products on Tuesday. Promissory notes are short-term instruments with maturities of up to one year, issued on a securities firm's own credit, and are available only to firms designated as comprehensive financial investment business operators with equity capital of at least 4 trillion won ($3.02 billion). The three new products — an on-demand type, a fixed-term type and an offline special-sale type — include an on-demand promissory note open only to individual customers at an annual rate of 2.50 percent. The fixed-term type offers individual customers annual rates of 2.80 to 4.00 percent and corporate customers 2.70 to 4.00 percent, depending on the agreed term.


yuni@heraldcorp.com